He couldn't recall the last time he had stopped, if at all. If he stopped, it would be too much of a struggle to start again. Every second he was in the wild brought the children another second closer to the worst.

Each step seemed to drag on him like a ball and chain. His ribs pulsed with pain from the earlier fight with the Grizzly bear. The snow rarely ever came below his shoulders. His paws were solid frozen and tingled with each agonizing step. The flesh beneath his fur was beginning to blister with the cold. The bandana whipped his frostbitten fur in the stabbing wind. Balto was decorated like a Christmas tree in icicles and loaves of snow until barely any colour could be made out on his fur.

Balto could barely see the nose in front of his face. Everything was white. He never could have a clear idea of what was in front of him. A cliff, a bear, a ravine; he was flying blind. If he bumped into anything or fell down anything, that was it.

Fortunately, the wind had blown the scent of the sled team in his direction. Weakened by the storm he soldiered on into the tempest, and with each mile, gradually, the scent became ever stronger. The trails of the sled team had long since been covered by snow, but their unmistakable scents remained.

He was getting close.***I think I overdid this a bit, especially the icicles and the ice on his paws. And I'm also aware that his eyes are blue. They look better that way to me. P:So anyway, my usual style. Drawn on paper, linearted, coloured and effected in Photoshop CS4. On-off, took me about a week.Enjoy. ^^UPDATE: I've just noticed how hideous the base of the tree looks. I might twinkle with it some more, but I'll see how it goes. Watch this space for more info. xP

that's really realistic, given that the temperature during the run was like -40 degrees *shudder.* It never gets that cold here in Ireland! Damn even reading the book The Cruellest Miles gave me hypothermia! *shitty illness pun is shitty.*